Carl Schimmel

Biography

The music of composer Carl Schimmel (b. 1975) is dense with literary and musical references, often humorous, and combines intensity of expression with a structural rigor which is influenced in part by his mathematics background. In weaving his musical narratives from poetry, art, and even unusual words, he strives to construct emotional and culturally complex sound worlds that excite the listener's imagination.

Winner of a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship, Columbia University's Joseph Bearns Prize, the Lee Ettelson Award, a Fromm Foundation Commission, and the 2017 Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Schimmel has received honors and awards from many organizations, including New Music USA, ASCAP, SCI, the New York Youth Symphony, and the National Federation of Music Clubs. His works have been performed in Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall, Merkin Hall in New York, Severance Hall in Cleveland, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, and at other venues throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, and he has been granted residencies at MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Copland House, and the Bogliasco Foundation. He has received performances and commissions from the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, California EAR Unit, the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, North/South Consonance, Quintet Attacca, the Mexico City Woodwind Quintet, the Da Capo Chamber Players, counter)induction, and many others. Recordings of his music are available on the Albany Records, New Focus Recordings, Arizona University Recordings, Navona Records, Blue Griffin, and Crescent Phase labels. A graduate of Duke University (Ph.D.), the Yale School of Music (M.M.), and Case Western Reserve University (B.A. Mathematics and Music), he is Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Illinois State University in Normal, IL. He was born in Pensacola, FL, and raised in Wakefield, RI; he currently lives in Grinnell, Iowa, with his wife Mariko and their two children, Otto and Thora.